Digital Literacy

Digital literacy is the knowledge, skills and manner a person uses when operating a broad group of digital devices. These devices can range from anything such as smartphones, tablets, desktops and personal computers. A digitally literate person is a person that has a wide set of digital skills. These skills include things like basic computing skills, knowledge of various digital platforms such as social media sites and other websites, the ability to interact in online communities, to gather and evaluate information, to think critically, and to understand ethical issues that are raised in the digital world, as a result of our ever-growing technologies and innovations.

Digital literacies are crucial to being a competent and successful poster on the internet. In order to make sure your content is well received and respected, you must respect the medium of the internet first yourself, and make sure you are digitally literate in all aspects of your posting. Personally, I think that the digital literacies of being aware and knowledgeable of many different communicational tools, producing content in a ethical and honest way, and the awareness of the power of the platforms we use to post things, as well as our post themselves have are the most important digital literacies to be aware of. I think that every person who posts things to the internet should be well aware of all of these literacies and respect and follow them.

While many people tend to forget about the ethical implications of the things that they post, I think it is very important to remember that every thing that we post has consequences. It is simply wrong to purposefully try to offend or hurt someone with the things that you post.

In my multimedia project, my group members and I strived to be as digitally literate as possible, and to follow all of the literacies that I mentioned above. In our group podcast, my group and I displayed digital literacy by producing content in an ethical and honest way. We did this by creating a podcast that was based on our own original ideas, and by giving the appropriate music credits and interview credits that were due.

In our group video, we also strived to be digitally literate as well. We produced original and ethical work by using our own original ideas and by giving music and interview credits. We also were aware of different communicational tools during this project by using different equipment in our media kits, and by publishing our video to YouTube. I believe we were also digital literate by being mindful of the power of our posts, and making sure that because of this power, we did not post anything that could be considered offensive.

In my personal website, blog and video I strived to be digitally literate as well. I did this by creating original, ethical work by giving music and interview credit, by using different media kit equipment and platforms for posting, and by being aware of the power of my posts.

I have gained skills in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, Audacity, WordPress, Wix, and iMovie. I am very grateful to have learned how to use these programs to help further my career by using the website and digital resume I created to show to employers, and possibly even by using these programs in my future careers as well.

Self Branding

Self branding is important because it establishes oneself as an entity in the work force. Because people want to have success when looking for a job, they tend to brand themselves according to the specific standards needed for the job as well as overall hardworking and smart typically. While those things are crucial in “good” self branding, self branding is important because it is a person’s chance to establish their own individual professional personality and identity in the work world. According to Nur Costa, “When you think about yourself as a brand, your objective it’s not only to thrive. It is also to survive, just like companies are meant to survive.”

When you are constructing your original self brand, it is okay to be modest about your strengths and qualifications however it is still important to give yourself full credibility and to not underestimate yourself. You don’t want to prevent yourself from getting a job or being able to do great work just because you do not fully communicate your potential and self brand proficiently. When creating your self brand it is important to not focus on what others will think of you or how they will judge you, judging is inevitable and everyone does it.

Costa says ten important guidelines for self branding are:

1. Celebrate your singularity and conduct a self-branding auditing. Ask different people how they see you (2 relatives, 2 friends, 2 classmates, 2 professors and 2 co-workers). Compile all the attributes of how do people see you in a list and compare it to the list of your own attributes that you wrote about yourself.

2. Overview control. With these attributes, build a SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

3. Do not avoid competence: put yourself into the same room as your competitors. If you’re the best of your class, change class… because you’re in the wrong one.

4. Find the sweet spot. That essential spot for your brand. Focus on the right strategy to achieve your objectives.

5. Take advantage of the self-introduction power. 

6. Take advantage of the power of words, and communicate your personal brand through your mantra or your motto.

7. Think big: in market terms.

8. Expand your networking and visibility. 

9. Put in action your personal branding plan. 

10. Stay relevant. Measure how are you doing with your work and purposes.

Healing Waters Day Spa: Promoting Self Confidence

Healing Waters Day Spa

Healing Waters Day Spa is a chain of day spas that was founded by registered nurse practitioner Amanda Gorecki who is the president of the company today, and co-founded by John Gorecki, a board-certified neurosurgeon. Healing Waters strives to calm, balance, correct and restore their patients minds and bodies.

One of my favorite spas near my hometown is Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge’s Healing Waters Day Spa. This spa has two sides, a plastic surgery side and a spa side and I have had the pleasure of being a client there myself and I really enjoyed my experience at the spa.I also know numerous friends and family members that have visited this spa and had great experiences. Peter Haines, MD is the medical director of Healing Waters at Palmetto Health, and he is in charge of all plastic surgery procedures.

The spa side of Healing Waters at Palmetto Health includes services such as:

• Anti-aging Pure MD® facials
• Healing Waters body rituals
• Massage therapy
• Massage Me Monthly membership program
• Wellness activities

Some of Healing Waters at Palmetto Health’s plastic surgery services include:

• CoolSculpting: Eliminate fat without surgery or downtime.
• Breast Augmentation: Choose from saline or silicone implants.
• Tummy Tuck: Create a tighter, flatter stomach by removing excess abdominal fat and skin and tightening abdominal muscles.

I decided to visit Healing Waters at Parkridge to learn more about what the spa had to offer and to ask some questions about spa careers and the overall meaning of beauty. I spoke with Lori Knowlton, a registered esthetician to ask some of these questions. I found that Healing Waters helps promote self confidence in its clients by making them feel better about themselves and their appearance through the many different treatments it offers, and many studies show that skin care aestheticians alone can be very helpful in boosting their clients self confidence and self esteem.

Self Confidence & Beauty

Does wearing makeup boost self confidence?

Makeup & Self Confidence

Although not every woman wears makeup, many women choose to wear makeup everyday. Even if a woman does not have a job to report to or any other obligations to attend to, there is still a high chance she will chose to wear makeup anyways. This is because a lot of women today do not feel comfortable being seen in public without wearing makeup. Because of the social and cultural pressures that society puts on women to be and look perfect through television shows, advertisements, magazines, and the internet a lot of women feel as though they have to try and live up to the unrealistic airbrush standards of the supermodels or actresses they see on the big screen or in their favorite magazines everyday.

I believe that beauty comes from within however I do gain confidence through wearing makeup and do not like to be barefaced just anywhere. To gain some knowledge about what Furman students felt about their own experiences with self confidence and wearing or not wearing makeup, my fellow classmates Caneel Burgner, Kate Lewis and I decided to interview Furman students and make a podcast about their opinions on how self confidence, makeup and beauty intersect, listen to our podcast here.

Self Networking

The Rise of Social Networking

In this day and age, social networking has become a very vital part of our society. These days, if you want to find information about anyone you meet or know, odds are you can just simply open your web browser, go to the Facebook website, find the person by searching their name and then you are able to learn anything about them, from their birthday, what their favorite books and hobbies are to that awesome tropical trip to Hawaii that they took with their family last summer. Social Networking sites have become so very popular because they allow people to connect with their peers from anywhere in the world in the privacy of their own homes or spaces.

Self Presentation

On any social networking site, users create profiles or a “face” for their persona on these sites. Social Networking sites are very important platforms for the process of self presentation and self identification on the web. According to Zizi Papacharissi author, professor and department head of Communication at the University of Illinois Chicago , “Enabling both identity expression and community building, SNSs are initially structured around a niche audience, although they frequently expand beyond that target market.” Social networking sites are especially useful for celebrities and public figures to connect with their viewers, such as Rihanna or Kylie Jenner and her famous use of Instagram.

Celebrities often use social networking sites to promote themselves and their careers

Kylie Jenner has a whooping 54.4 million followers on Instagram

Ethics on The Web

In Brian Carroll‘s book “Writing and Editing for Digital Media,” he explores many things related to the web, including digital media and the law. In the chapter regarding digital media and the law, Carroll writes about digital media law and how it pertains to writing, editing and publishing in digital media.

Libel

Libel is one of the malpractices of journalism. For something to be considered libel, it must be printed and or published, erroneous or false, and defamatory. Defamation that is spoken is called slander and has different laws. Cases of criminal libel are very rare even though about half of the states in the United States have laws against it.

It is assumed in a libel case that the defamation of one’s reputation can be helped by the rewarding of monetary damages. This is not always the case but it is the law’s attempt at justice. Libel can take place in the headlines of news stories, blog posts, advertisements, social media websites, chat rooms, press releases, or letters. Most libel suits are dismissed before they even make it to a jury. When a suit does reach trial, the media is likely to lose.

There are six elements of a successful libel suit that the plaintiff must prove occurred.

1. defamation
2. identification
3. publication, and republication
4. fault
5. falsity
6. injury

For something to be considered libel it must be printed or published

 

 Featured Image

Beauty Splurge or Steal

Because I have been wearing makeup for years now, I have had the opportunity to try out many different beauty products. In these many years of trial and error, I have discovered a number of different high end makeup product dupes, or less expensive drugstore makeup products that look identical to the high end products and have the same color payoff and quality, for a fraction of the price!

 

Eyes

Steal: Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Liner $8 Walmart

 

Splurge: Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Liner $22 Sephora

Steal: Maybelline The Falsies Push Up Drama Mascara $9.96 Walmart

Splurge: Benefit They’re Real Mascara $24 Sephora

Steal: L’Oreal Infalliable 24 Hr Eyeshadow in Amber Rush $7.95 Walmart

Splurge: Stila Jewel Eyeshadow in Golden Topaz $20 Sephora

Face

Steal: Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder $3.41 Walmart

Splurge: Bobbi Brown Sheer Finish Pressed Powder $38 Sephora.com

Steal: New York Color Smooth Skin Bronzing Face Powder $3.59 CVS

Splurge: Too Faced Soleil Matte Bronzer $30 Sephora

Steal: Makeup Geek Blush Pan in Rendezvous $9.99 MakeupGeek.com

Splurge: Nars Blush in Angelika Sephora

Steal: Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3 in 1 Foundation $12.97 Walmart

Splurge: Stila Studio Skin 15 Hour Wear Hydrating Foundation $42 Sephora

Lips

Steal: Rimmel Show Off Matte Lip Velvet in Meteoric Matte $4.65 Walmart

Splurge: Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipstick in Melted Berry $21 Ulta

 

Today, many technological innovations drown viewers with the display of beautiful people as members of society. Because of this, the criteria for the standard of beauty has become much more specific in America. In reality, few people can compare themselves favorably to these images, which are predominantly digitally enhanced to begin with. The famous Barbie doll has long been a beauty icon for young girls to compare themselves to in America.

As a result of these things, many people choose to use makeup to try and emulate the popular beauty trends and standards of the time. However, I think it is important to feel beautiful and self confident without makeup and to recognize and appreciate your own natural beauty. I don’t think that anyone should feel like they have to use makeup to conform to the unrealistic beauty standards of society, I think people should use makeup because they enjoy it.

The Video Production Process

If you have never produced a video before you probably think that the video production process is simple, just going out and taking a lot of footage of your subject and then doing a few simple edits. However, that is not the case, and video production takes thorough planning.

Pre-Production

The pre-production phase of the video production process is very important because it organizes your information for the purpose of providing a good foundation for your video. In Todd Chappell‘s “Video Production Primer” article, he says that the pre-production phase is arguably the most critical of all phases. In the pre-production phase, the producer writes up a plan for their video, plans out their shots, sets up interviews and budgets money. Pre-production greatly impacts how easily the rest of the production will be to produce.

You must plan your video before you film it

Production

This phase is what the stereotype of video production is, the hands on shooting of the video. It is important to have adequate gear for shooting footage.

According to Chappell, there are four basic shooting methods.

• Subject Shot: An interview shot, usually shot medium close-up
• Action Shot: A shot of the primary action of your story
• Establishing Shot: Establish the story of the video in time and place
• B-roll: An shot not of the subject or action in the story

Shooting an interview

Post Production

One of the key steps of post production is editing. When editing your video, you must remember to cut parts of your interview and then piece the remaining footage together like a story. You should always leave clips of interesting moments in throughout the story. The next step in post production is exportation. The two main places of exportation are for DVD or for the web, on a site such as YouTube or Vimeo.

 

My Beauty Favorites

What Beauty Means to Me

For me, outer beauty is all about being confident with my appearance. To ensure this, I have spent much time trying out and researching many different makeup products. I get makeup tips from beauty YouTubers and the glam section of Kylie Jenner’s iPhone application. With all of these influences in mind, I have created a list of my favorite beauty products!

Skincare

Skincare is where it all starts and even the most high end concealer Sephora can offer will not do you any good if you do not take care of your skin. The first step is a good cleanser. I always find myself going back to Neutrogena’s Oil-Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefruit Facial Cleanser. I like this cleanser because it does a really nice job of removing all my makeup, it exfoliates my skin and the salicylic acid it contains is good for my blemishes.

The next skincare staple in my beauty routine is moisturizer! A good moisturizer provides a foundation for makeup by hydrating your skin, and giving it a more plump, youthful appearance. Moisturizing your skin is the number one thing you can do to prevent wrinkles, something that is important to consider even at a young age. I recommend people with normal to dry skin to moisturize twice a day, and for people with oily/combination skin, try moisturizing only at night to keep the oil at bay! My favorite two moisturizers are Nip and Fab’s Dragon’s Blood Fix Serum and Aveeno’s ULTRA-CALMING Daily Moisturizer.

Foundation

While I believe in splurging on some makeup items, foundation has never really been one of them. I have had much luck with drugstore foundations. I typically try to find foundations formulated for my oily skin, and my longtime favorites have been Revlon’s ColorStay Makeup for Combination/Oily Skin or Covergirl’s Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1 Foundation for foundation, and Rimmel London’s Stay Matte Pressed Powder to set the foundation.

Bronzer and Blush

I enjoy high end and drugstore bronzers and blushes. With my fair skin, I tend to go for hot pink and peachy colors for my blush. Your bronzer should be about one shade lighter than your foundation. My current bronzer obsession is Too Faced’s Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzing Powder, it smells like chocolate too! My two blush favorites are Mac’s Peaches Powder Blush, and Nars’ Angelika Blush. 

Eye Makeup

Drugstore eyeshadows are not nearly as pigmented or as long lasting as high end eyeshadows. My eyeshadow recommendations are any of the Urban Decay Naked Palettes, and my absolute favorite, as well as a Kylie Jenner favorite, Too Faced’s Chocolate Bar Palette. My mascara favorites are Too Faced’s Better Than Sex and Maybelline’s The Falsies Push Up Drama 

Lips

I use both drugstore and high end lip products, but my current favorites are high end. My lip product favorites are Too Faced’s Melted in Peony, and Mac’s Brave and Velvet Teddy.

 

A few of my beauty favorites

Collage Credits: Neutrogena’s Oil-Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefruit Facial Cleanser, Nip and Fab’s Dragon’s Blood Fix Serum, Revlon’s ColorStay Makeup for Combination/Oily Skin,  Rimmel London’s Stay Matte Pressed Powder, Urban Decay Naked Palettes

Beauty Trends Over Time

Since the beginning of time, beauty has been a part of society. Ultimately, beauty is simply a characteristic that provides pleasure or satisfaction to the senses. While standards of beauty have varied a lot over the years because of changing cultures and technological advancements, the yearning for something esthetically pleasing has always been present. Because people have many different opinions of attractiveness, it is indeed true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

In all time periods, beauty has been an empowering force for women by boosting the self confidence of women that choose to wear makeup. Beauty has also influenced women’s freedom. In the 1920s women used makeup as a way to empower themselves and embrace their new found independence. In the 1990s beauty was also an empowering force for women because in this era beauty was very playful and experimental, and women were encouraged to try new trends and express themselves through their looks.

Ancient Egyptian Beauty

Cleanliness and overall health were very important things to the ancient Egyptian people. Because of this, they were known to use a lot of natural ingredients for beauty treatments. Ancient Egyptians used a sugar paste for hair removal. Red Ochre, a natural pigment was used for lipstick and blush. Honey and milk were commonly made into masks to rejuvenate dry skin.

The most iconic Egyptian beauty trend was dark, dramatic eyeliner. I don’t know if I’m quite on board with this one, its a little heavy for my makeup taste! Ancient Egyptians used Kohl as eyeliner and the metals it contained protected their eyes from the sun. Interestingly enough, and a far cry from America’s current culture, it was a social normality for Egyptian males to wear “makeup” as well.

1920s

The 1920s was a very important time for women’s freedom, and the Flapper movement certainly influenced the beauty trends of this time. During this era, many women enjoyed experimenting with their new found freedoms by wearing pants for the first time, and cutting their hair short. Women of the 1920s also expressed their newfound confidence with their makeup. Feminine, classic makeup was popular during this time. Red lips, defined eyes, and (especially for Flappers) darker eyeshadows were popular.

1950s

The 1950s was a more conservative time for women. Makeup in the 1950s became more focused on skin perfecting, although red lipstick was still a staple of this era. Fake eyelashes became popular during this time and were widely worn on television shows. Gel or liquid eyeliners were used to define the eyes and to create the illusion of long, dark eyelashes.

1990s

If there was one era of beauty that was the most playful and fun, it would totally be the 1990s! Women in the 1990s were all about experimenting: with anything from their wacky updos and butterfly clips, to their blue nail polish. Glittery eyeshadows and glossy lips were very popular. The 1990s also brought us the era of grunge which influenced the makeup of this time by promoting matte nude lips and a “no-makeup makeup look”, or even skipping makeup altogether became popular and Angelina Jolie was the queen of this trend!